It is crucial for us to understand the history of the Japanese university system when discussing the social responsibility or accountability of universities. The Japanese university system was established under the strong initiative of the state in the late 19^th century for the purpose of the development of Japan. The Imperial University in Tokyo—the only university established in 1887—was expected to play the role of introducing into Japan the advanced knowledge from Europe and America and training a limited number of “elite” who would then guide Japan.

After World War II, the Japanese university system was completely reorganized and opened its doors to a much larger number of people. The massification of higher education that led to an increase in the number of institutions and students during the 1960s and 70s significantly changed the role and character of the universities. In the 1970s, the government attempted to reform the university system by adopting various measures including the “higher edueation plan,” providmg financial support for private institutions, and establishing new national universities. However, these measures were not entirely successful until yet another reform period in the 1990s.

The period from the 1990s until today has been considered as the “period of extensive reformation of universities”; during this period, there was a deregulation of the university curriculum, an evaluation of institutions, and finally, the incorporation of national universities. At present, due to a decline in the 18-year-old population, many private institutions are unable to attract a sufficient number of students. This has effected a tremendous change in the relationship between the universities and the students, and universities need to respond to the various needs of the students.

Universities are no longer the “ivory tower” but are considered as social entities that should be supported by various stakeholders, including students, the government, and the industrial sector. The reformation served to make the universities conscious of their social responsibility and accountability more than ever. Universities are expected to play an important role in the knowledge-based society of the 21^st century. This will be the most important responsibility of the universities.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the roles played by universities in the field of policy research. Due to the govemment's deteriorating fiscal imbalance and other political and economic reasons, there is an increasing demand for policy research and analysis and a growing need for the quantitative analysis and evaluation of various policies formulated by the central and local governments. Universities have begun to play the crucial roles in the field of policy research and analysis, particularly, with the recent increase in public policy graduate schools that have the great potential to fulfill the role of independent think tanks. Exchanges between ministry officials and university researchers have been increasing, and these relationships have proved to be beneficial to both the officials and the researchers. However, there remain a number of problematic issues that need to be addressed by universities, for instance, the need to recognize the importance of policy research and to put in more effort and resources toward policy research and the need for universities to improve their ability to publicize and distribute research findings and information. On the other hand, in order to attract promising policy makers, government agencies must address issues such as the improvement of benefits and compensation for employees holding post-graduate degrees.

Higher education is facing a huge wave of changes. The wave appears to come in four layers. The first is the massification or “democratization” of higher education, which is observed most drastically in developing countries. The second is the rise of knowledge economy, which leads economic growth in most developed countries. The third is globalization, with diminishing barriers of physical distance and national borders. The last is the competition happening on a global scale. With markets ranging from research funds, students and job markets, universities compete both in quality and in quantity. Japanese universities seem to be at risk of ragging from such global competition, not only in the research market but also in professional job and study-abroad markets.

Hachioji City is located in the western inland part of Tokyo Metropolitan. The population and area measure of Hachioji City are about 530,000 and 186 km². Hachioji City established Environmental Citizens Conference to promote participation of inhabitants in 2002. The area of the city is divided into 6 Environmental Districts. A regional environmental evaluation index ‘Check and Do’ was produced cooperatively by Hachioji City and Chuo University in 2003 so that the new participation scheme works well. Hachioji City and Chuo University published the guide book of the environmental index and have organized and trained about 100 instructors who utilize the guild book effectively to improve regional environment. The environmental index aims at betterment in regional programs and policies of environment as well as environmental behaviors of inhabitants.

This Evaluation Index is composed by 61 items, and divided into 8 fields: Water and Sewage, Wastes and Resource Recycle, Energy, Natural Environment, Green and Development of City, Air quality Environment, Living Environment and Social Environment. Each item is evaluated on a scale from 0-2. Each Environmental District selects suitable items and evaluates the District. The full score is 100. One evaluation point is named as one eco. Chuo University analyses the diagnostic data and advise the betterment of environment.

This scheme of participation of inhabitants activates cooperation among the university, the city and the firm in Hino City and Siwa Town also. In the first, Hachioji city and Chuo university constructed cooperation in 2001. In 2002 and 2003, Tokyo Electric Company joins the cooperation. From 2004 to 2006, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology grants this cooperation.

A comprehensive policy for sustainable management of land use is required in Japan because of the remarkable ruin of less-favored areas. At present, the government is undertaking a new catchment approach strategy for the environmental and socioeconomic balance between the urban and rural areas. In order to conserve biosphere diversity and achieve compatibility between nature and society, the “Legislation for Natural Restoration” was enacted on January 1, 2003.

This study focuses on the Hororo river area in the Kushiro river basin in Hokkaido, where one of the five pilot nature restoration projects based on the law has been launched. The main objective of this study is to analyze the cross-section themes in the implementation of the project planned in the boundary zone between the land used for agricultural and the wetlands.

The result of this study implies the need for a planning system for the integrated river basin management plan by the cooperation of the local authorities of the catchment; this includes the following issues: (a) enforcement of local initiative for land use planning, (b) formation of socioeconomic players for land use management by participation in the project, and (c) effective use of the nature restoration projects for regional development.

This study aims at identifying the importance and roles of networking in the formation of a civil society through the advancement of the activities of civil groups/organizations using case studies in Chiba prefecture, Japan. It was observed that the activities of civil groups/organizations heavily depend on the number and quality of the networks possessed by these groups/organizations. Local governments as well as intermediary civil organizations play a key role in networking, and thus, it is important to strengthen these organizations. In conclusion, the paper discusses the desirable actions to be taken toward networking of individuals; the relationship between the vitalzation of the activities of civil organizations, their social activities and networking; and the advancement of activities and the necessary actions to be taken toward networking among civil groups/organizations.

Nowadays, urban issues in the developing countries become one of the topics of concern in the world.

Urban issues are complicated by variety of their society/community transitions and economical expansions. However, due to the limited budgets, governments and local authorities have no enough public funds to complement the demands of the society. Given this limitation, it is highly important to prioritize the implementation of projects. With this background, the paper focuses on urban issues and their countermeasures in developing countries. The objective of this research is to clarify the systematization and prioritization of pressing issues related to urban planning/management in developing countries.

First, the authors reviewed urban issues in developing countries which were identified by international cooperation bodies and academic society. After clarifying the definition and area covered of urban issues, the paper analyzes the project priority for urban development through experimentation using System-Engineering method, known as AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) using. This experiment targeted two groups, foreign students majoring urban planning/transport (mainly developing countries) and foreign government staff who were in Japan.